The new Grey Seer Thanquol & Boneripper model from Games Workshop has popped up online and it’s looking very good indeed! If you’re a die hard Skaven fan then you’re going to be very happy with how he’s turned out…

Above you can see Thanquol & Boneripper in their original guises alongside a piece of artwork. You’ll be pleased to know that the new version is much bigger and Thanquol must have spent a lot of warpstone getting Clan Skryre and Moulder to make him such a majestic gift.

The new Boneripper is huge, appearing around the same size (potentially) as Glottkin and features four arms each with a warpfire cannon of some description. One of his legs is mechanical and the frame as a whole is chunky and covered in muscle. Sitting atop his shoulders is the Grey Seer himself, Thanquol, with some very cool looking horns and an impressive staff to boot.

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That mini makes me feel old. In the way that I assume hearing the music kids listen to these days and thinking it’s rubbish compared to how it used to be makes people feel old. To be fair, Boneripper has never been a great mini in any incarnation, but this one is especially ugly. The previous Thanquols were great, though. This one is not. It were much better in my day without all this fancy technological trickery, and will you kids get off my lawn!! lol

While it’s not what I thought Thanquol would look like I still really like it. I think the blue armour kinda makes it feel a bit ‘action figure’ looking but otherwise I like the design of Thanquol who still looks mad as a box of frogs.

Boneripper is kinda cool too and the huge hulking look of him is probably what Thanquol would ask for ‘bigger, better, stronger, more fire!’.

This looks pretty damn awesome, actually. The upper body is a little fat fat but … maybe he just has a lot of gas eh ? I do wish these models were toned down to dreadnaught size though. That would have just made more sense to me, easier to transport and use in game. Then again, I moaned that the Starter Set griffon was too small, meh!

Skaven are gifted with a lot of great models – though I wish the plaguepriests were updated.

I believe there are rumours that there are 2 Bonerippers; the leaked picture shows the one with flamethrowers, but there might be another that has flails instead.

Personally, speaking as someone who has collected Skaven for….a long time….the aesthetics of the current Stormvermin and Clanrats (and thus any other models a long the same lines, so Queek and Snitch) are my favorite and from that blurry picture of Thanquol, he seems to be in a similar vein.

Does it make sense if I say I wish the Rat Ogre wasn’t so…beefy? I know Moulder basically just fuses flesh together, but I’m not a great fan of the big slabs of meat being thrown together (not a great lover of the Hellpit model either).

In an ideal world, I’d love the Night runners pack to be redone the most (who doesn’t like Rat ninjas), but realistically speaking, if anything in the Skaven range is going to be redone after this set of releases (Horned Rat / Thanquol / Armoured Rat Ogres), I suspect it’s going to be the weapon teams if only because GW want to get everything into plastic.

Looking way back to the first Boneripper you can see clearly he has two horns as he is a mutant, one on the shoulder and other on the forehead, like an ugly unicorn. If this new version has a horn in either place, we know its a bit of homage to the original model.

Seen the other picture and it’s grown on me, the legs look to short because they are in scale for a single torso not the addition of another. I also like the rolls of skin were it looks like they grafted a bit to much on. On the down side I think it would have looked better with some close combat weapons in addition to the warp fire throwers but hopefully this will be a duel kit.

I was teetering on the brink of getting a Skaven army after the Verminlords, I think this probably tipped the balance….Awesome mini for what will an awesome looking army…well apart from my painting that is….

I am in the pro-over muscled, weirdly mutated, quad steampunk (warp-punk?) cannon armed Boneripper (i really like the actual designs of the cannons themselves – all the brass pressure vessels and excessive tubing convey an approach to technology appropriate for the brilliant but unhinged skaven Warplock Engineers, and shares certain similarities with the design of IkIt Claw’s mechanical appendage, which may hint at the weapon’s origin).

Yes, it is grotesquely proportioned. Yes, it has the twisted, ill considered design one might expect to come from a mind addicted to powerful narcotics… but this is a Skaven Clan Moulder/Clan Skryre mashup creation, and their stock in trade is warped, twisted abominations and manic, ill advised warpstone powered super-weaponry respectively.

As pointed out by @brennon, this is a bespoke creation brought into being at the behest of Grey Seer Thanquol, perhaps the most megalomaniacal, desulsionally power-obsessed example of a famously power hungry and egocentric caste of Skaven society. More power, more stength, more resiliance, more guns, more crush-kill – this is exactly what Thanquol would demand for the latest fortune in Warptokens that he will doubtless have paid to have Boneripper reconstituted. Of course it is an exercise in tasteless excess, but isn’t that exactly what you should expect of such a barmy Skaven?

My only problem with it is the whole foot on rock trope – it is criminally overused already, and entirely unncessary here. It is not as though a mindless, warpstone powered killing machine has any call to strike a stereotypical heroic pose, afterall.

Just to clarify, my issue isn’t with any of those things, all of which I’m fine with. Rather that the final result resembles a child’s poorly designed action figure, lacking of all the character Jes gave them. Once again, will you kids get off my lawn! lol

Fair enough. I don’t see the problem with it myself. Jes always creates incredible minis, but I must admit I feel that this version of Thanquol actually reflects the modern depcitions of the character in various BL novels rather well, in which Thanquol has been experiencing consequences from his unfettered warpstone consumption and advanced age. Even Skaven can’t essentially do lines of Warpstone for decades on end without something bad happening to them sooner or later, and even Grey Seers, while longer lived than most Skaven, don’t have an unlimited shelf life…

We get another angle on the quad cannon Boneripper, a picture of the variant version with Warpfire Braziers, and a few closeups on things like the alternet masked Boneripper head (I prefer the ripped chainmail coif myself) and a better look at Thanquol. Interestingly, there is a small piece of english text visible that seems to state that the new Verminlord special character, Skreech Verminking, was involved in transforming Boneripper from his former stature into his new gargantuam form.

Now, where is Gotrek? He won’t want to miss out on killing yet another of Thanquol’s expensive bodyguards…

That to me is not Thanqoul anymore, I could have respected a more dynamical repose based on the original rather than this “moar horns is ouzume!” approach GW is going for these days. The old miniature had a sense of authority and self esteem despite being crazy. This looks like what youd get if you stuffed warpstone up the a** ; couple of green extra horns and the face of scooby doo. Ikit claw got a superb rewamp more closely based on the original, why not an even more important figure such as Thanqoul? Boneripper may have looked better if the upper bit had looked more naturally fused rather than just slapped on. Some of the big bits such as where the right arm connects looks way too flat .. it really stands out on a big model like this.

Opinions and all that, but the Thanquol I know and love is completely and utterly barmy / deluded, which is saying something considering what Skaven are like as a race.

We’re talking about a rat who has been snorting warpstone for ages; he should be a big puddle of chaos spawn.

The old Thanquol model was too bulky; he looked like he could handle himself in a 1vs1 fight even when you matched him with the aesthetics of the old one pose fits all Clan rats. This new one is much more in line with the current (and in my opinion the best looking) Clanrat and Stormvermin models.

He looks completely and utterly insane in addition to being off his face on warpstone,full of delusion that people are in fear of him (when really, people would be more scared of the rat ogre with 4 flame throwers for arms).

Personally, I think this model is very much a Skaven model.

With regards to Thanquols pose, it would not surprise me that he could be put on a Screaming bell (whether he does or not, or the rules allow it, I don’t know).

To be fair, it has been suggested in some of the more recent novels that deal with Thanquaol that his advanced age (especially for a Skaven) and warpstone snuff addiction have lead to significant degeneration over the last few years in the fictional timeline, leaving hum ever more paranoid and unhinged, so it is possible that they are trying to convey that in the sculpt, with him going ever more from crazy like a (rat) fox to just plain crazy.

I really like this model, and can’t really understand the antipathy toward it either, but then again I like a lot of GW’s recent releases, so my aesthetic just seems to be different from that of most people on Bow. Different strokes for different folks, I guess..

I think some people are not able to make the distinction between something they don’t like and something which is low quality. Personally, I don’t like this mini at all, but I can appreciate the skill which went into making it. It’s an excellent sculpt, just not what I’m into.

I dont think anyone has said it is of low quality, but as you said some skill clearly went into it. Imo thats what makes it a wasted effort as the composition is what is of low quality while some of the individual detail is great. Some detail is not so great, especially the upper body fuse.

My only criticism which you can take to the bank would be, yet again, these models might as well have been made from superior Resin seeing as GW refuse to bother to use the medium of plastic to allow for different poses etc. I’ll bet you all those limbs are fixed and you have no ability to move the arms etc around according to your preference. It’s almost as if they don’t want you to ever alter a single one of their models ever !

I certainly never said it was low quality, only that it looked especially ugly, which stems from the design rather than the talent of the sculptor. I agree with @hatamoto‘s assessment, it is a poorly composed mini. The eye is drawn two central points, the head and the torso join. The torso further dominates the mini and give the impression of a blob with a head lost within it. Thanquol is an afterthought. On top of that, I personally do not like the style.

@redben if you’re going to say you never said it was low quality then list everything you think is wrong with it, then we’re just arguing semantics which is utterly pointless. You me and @hatamoto agree that we don’t like the miniature, so let’s just, ahem, agree to agree on this one

I daresay there are plenty genuinely don’t like it and personally I can see why some wouldn’t, it’s all down to taste and all that. But there are others that think that by criticising GW or not supporting them is saving starving children in Africa or something. Kinda like the sort warped idealistic thinking you do between the ages of 15-23, or for life if you’re borderline aspergers.

Turns out they’re about the same price as GCT, Wyrd, PP, etc, etc depending on what you look at.. Damn these companies brainwashing me by selling stuff I want to buy. If only there was some way not to like the stuff they sell. I just can’t take the social guilt knowing that they are running a business, protecting their IP’s and their jobs by murdering baby seals and robbing old grannies. GCT are even using Ninjas to steal kid lunches now!

I can respect protecting jobs and IPs, i just dont think they are going about it the right way. For a company trying to protect their IPs they are doing a fine job raping them. Its not about anyone trying to influence what you buy and play with. Maledrakh further down is 100% right about the love/hate relationship with GW.

@hatamoto I think the point @vonevilstein is trying to make is one about the difference between not liking something and hating something. The whole argument that seems to flare up in every other GW post is actually about the difference between genuine criticism and juvenile bashing, hating and general nerdragery.

I would love the figures depicted in the art… rather than the Fisher Price toys scheduled for release.

Oh well, the kiddies will wet the bed and scoop them up in droves, and hopefully that will keep the company afloat long enough to do a Bretonnian/Empire release. Still waiting… (and hoping) but it’s not that important anymore. My spouse got me practically everything I need to fill the gaps in my GW based fantasy battle lines at Christmas (all older releases, and outstanding figures at that). Another unit of Bretonnian footmen would be great, as I can also use them in medieval scrums, but I wouldn’t cry if that didn’t happen. Scibor has them in a similar flavour, and Gamezone produces superior Bretonnian/Empire figures anyway imo.

In fact, I’m becoming less interested in GW’s releases all the time, as there is an ever growing list of companies out there producing better, cheaper figures for both 40k and fantasy. The company is being left behind by their unfathomable adherence to bad action figure tropes, and the idea that more is better. And of course, declining market share means an ever greater price tag for their shoddy designs. If anything, they are getting lost in the clutter, and their patchwork adolescent game system doesn’t help.

All of their sculpts in the last few years have become lazy, static, and unimaginative — panicked and hastily sculpted trash aimed at fast revenue. I don’t know why this one has generated a greater discussion; it’s just more of the same.

In many ways it has already become a skirmish game, but for the above massive monsters instead of troops. What is the point in even bringing lowly troops when you can field a few of these instead?

Still, this is much more skaveny than that vermin lord beastman demon-thingy.

Also the head is a good homage to the original jes goodwin boneripper -(not that later undead version pictured above), even down to the rips in the chainmail and that ridiculous horn.) it actually makes it recognizable as boneripper and not just some random ratgiant

Although a long time Skaven fan, I think that as with the vermin lord, if I get one of these it will be because I see potential to convert it into a greater daemon or daemon engine… The Boneripper doesn’t convey a very ‘skaven-y’ feel to me. A lot of the model is technically very good, but the overall impression is a bit weird and awkward. It has no soul.

I’ll reserve judgement on Thanquol – need to see him closer up I think, although he looks more ‘action adventure’ than ‘villainous mastermind’ to me.

Although I do not play skaven, I do like it. I will not join the weekly GW bassing what is going on this site. The weekly frustrations of some people everytime their is a topic about GW is tiresome. BoW do something about that!

Oh, come on, join the chant with us old timers: “Keep things the same! Keep things the same!”…

For my part, I do play skaven, and I do not like these newfangled monsters that much. No, I am really not too fond of the general movement of warhammer becoming the game of “big actionfigure-like monster fantasy battles” at all. Then again, I am old and started when the game was about troops, not monsters.

I think you will find that us old-timers’ (rather intense) love/hate relationship with GW is what fuels the comments of this site more than any one particular thing else.

Of course, not everyone agrees, There are lots of posts here saying they quite like it as well.

And as long as most posts are quite civil here I do not find this problematic at all. It is one of the tings that keeps this community interesting to come back to.

However, if it kept degenerating to flamewars then maybe it should be done something with,

People are of course entitled to their opinions; this model certainly isn’t for everyone, but comments such as

Oh well, the kiddies will wet the bed and scoop them up in droves

are not productive to any discussion.

I don’t know when you started playing Warhammer, but there certainly was a time when it was based on the power of heroes and magic items.

I don’t see anything wrong in having these massive points dump for Horde armies which in turn allow you to field a more elite (or lower model count) army. The things I have always found interesting for Skaven have been the rat ninja’s, dangerous to both sides weapon teams, steampunk contraptions and bonkers characters.

agreed, that example is a derogatory slur and unproductive. I am not condoning slagging GW off at every corner, just making an observation to stave off the calls for BoW to “do something” about the “GW bashing”.

as I wrote: “And as long as most posts are quite civil here I do not find this problematic at all. It is one of the tings that keeps this community interesting to come back to.”

I started playing when the models had stats such as willpower and plastic was drastic, (The other old-timers will get that reference). Sure, there were always some heroes and some magic (which is good!). Now it seems the balance has tipped sharply towards mostly heroes and magic (and the massive monsters) troops effectively being mere meat shield wound counters.

This sad state of affairs must be why kings of war appeals so much these days. It does capture a fair bit of that old time warhammer feel. Just hope it doesn’t go down that same path with overpowered single heroes.

I was around during those willpower days as well. I can’t remember which edition was effectively “herohammer” (4th?), but it was at that point my friends and I decided to limit what items you could buy for your characters (I think we settled on you not being able to buy an item which cost more than 50 points).

There was a campaign thing released by GW yonks ago; you rolled for territories a bit like Necromunda and they gave you little perks with regards to how you could build your army.

Personally, I think 9th has veered too far into how effective big blobs of cheap troops are due to all the bonuses you get and that in turn has made the troops themselves a bit…characterless and less personal.

I don’t think there is anything wrong in there being an option to fill out the points of your army by being able to spend lots on characters. It allows people to build an effective army for less money, which can then be built upon with regards to adding more troops and cutting down on characters.

You used to be able to build big deathstar units in other editions, I don’t see a problem in having deathstar characters (i.e. it is still an eggs in one basket approach).